Travel insurance for Indian parents visiting Germany: the approved-insurer list and the pre-existing condition trap

Travel insurance is the requirement most Indian families treat as a formality: buy the cheapest policy that says €30,000, upload the PDF, move on. Two things make that a mistake, and neither is obvious from the insurer's website.

First, German missions in India accept policies from a specific list of Indian insurers only. A policy from an Indian company that is not on that list is not accepted for the visa, regardless of the coverage amount.

Second, the standard policy is built to not pay for your parents' existing conditions. Not through fine print but through the definitions themselves, which we quote below. For a 68-year-old with diabetes or hypertension, that is the difference between a policy that works and a piece of paper that satisfies the consulate and nothing else.

This guide covers the insurance decision only. For the visa process itself, the invitation letter and the Verpflichtungserklärung, see bringing your parents to Germany.

What the law actually requires

The requirement comes from Article 15 of the EU Visa Code (Regulation (EC) No 810/2009), which applies identically at every German mission. It is short, and worth reading in the original rather than in an insurer's paraphrase:

"Applicants for a uniform visa for one or two entries shall prove that they are in possession of adequate and valid travel medical insurance to cover any expenses which might arise in connection with repatriation for medical reasons, urgent medical attention and/or emergency hospital treatment or death, during their stay(s) on the territory of the Member States."

"The insurance shall be valid throughout the territory of the Member States and cover the entire period of the person's intended stay or transit. The minimum coverage shall be EUR 30 000."

Four separate conditions are hiding in those two sentences, and a policy has to satisfy all of them:

1. €30,000 minimum coverage. This is a floor, not a target.
2. It must cover four specific things: medical repatriation, urgent medical attention, emergency hospital treatment, and death (repatriation of remains). A policy missing repatriation is not compliant even at €50,000 of medical cover.
3. Valid throughout the Schengen area, not just Germany. Parents who add a Paris or Zurich trip are still covered under the same policy. This is one of the few things that works in your favour.
4. The entire period of stay, with no gap at either end.

Article 15 also states that applicants should "in principle, take out insurance in their country of residence." For your parents, that means buying in India, not in Germany. This is not a preference. It is why the approved-insurer list below exists.

For multiple-entry visas, the rule is narrower than most people expect: your parents must prove insurance covering the first intended visit only, and sign a declaration stating they are aware they need coverage for subsequent stays. The visa lasts longer than the insurance obligation you prove at application. Buying cover for later trips is still their responsibility, and nobody reminds them.

The approved-insurer list nobody mentions

This is the requirement that catches families out, and it is specific to applying from India.

The German missions in India publish a list of Indian insurance companies whose travel medical policies they accept, and state plainly:

"Visa applicants are advised to note that other travel medical insurances issued by Indian insurance companies are not accepted for Schengen visa procedure."

A €30,000 policy from a non-listed Indian insurer is a rejected application. Price and coverage do not rescue it.

The list also carries an age band for each insurer, which matters far more than families realise: most of the well-known names stop at 70. If your parents are over 70, the list of insurers that can cover them at all is short.

Insurers with no upper age limit

• Acko General Insurance, 91 days to no limit
• Aditya Birla Health Insurance, no age limit
• Care Health Insurance, all plans, no age limit
• United India Insurance, no age limit
• Bajaj Allianz, Travel Prime Super Age policy, no age limit

Insurers covering parents over 70

• Royal Sundaram, 3 months to 100 years
• Go Digit, 0 months to 99 years
• Manipal Cigna, 0 months to 95 years
• Bharti AXA, 3 months to 85 years
• CoCo by Navi, 91 days to 85 years
• ICICI Lombard, Schengen policies for 51–85 years
• Tata AIG, Travel Guard Senior, 71 years and above
• IndusInd, Travel Care Schengen Plan, 71–80 years
• National Insurance, Schengen Plan, 61–80 years

Insurers that stop at 70 or below

HDFC ERGO (to 70), Bajaj Allianz standard (to 70), SBI General (to 70), Star Health (to 70), New India Assurance (to 70), IFFCO-Tokio (to 70), Future Generali (to 70), Cholamandalam MS (to 70), Universal Sompo (to 70), Oriental Insurance (to 60), Tata AIG standard (to 55), Edelweiss (to 45).

Note the pattern: several insurers appear in more than one band because their standard product stops at 55 or 70 while a separate senior product continues above it. Buying "Tata AIG" is not the decision; buying the right Tata AIG product for the age is.

Check the live list before you buy. The published list carries an effective date of July 2022, and insurers, products and age bands change. The list above is what the missions published as of the verification date on this guide; treat it as a starting point and confirm on the German mission's own page, not on an insurer's or an agent's summary of it.

The pre-existing condition trap

This is the part that decides whether the policy is real protection or just a visa document, and it is almost never explained plainly, because the people explaining it usually earn a commission on the sale.

Two definitions do the work. Both are quoted below from an Indian insurer's own published policy wording.

Definition one, what counts as pre-existing:

"Pre-existing disease means any condition, ailment, injury or disease: a) That is/are diagnosed by a Medical Practitioner within 36 months prior to the effective date of the policy issued by the insurer or its reinstatement or b) For which Medical advice or treatment was recommended by, or received from, a Medical Practitioner within 36 months prior to the effective date of the policy."

Thirty-six months, and it catches advice as well as diagnosis. A parent whose doctor mentioned borderline blood sugar two years ago has a pre-existing condition under this definition, whether or not anyone called it a diagnosis at the time.

Definition two, and this is the one that matters:

"Life threatening situation shall mean a serious medical condition or symptom resulting from Injury or Illness which is not Pre-Existing Disease, which arises suddenly and unexpectedly, and requires immediate care and treatment..."

Read those together and the mechanism becomes clear. Travel policies market themselves on covering life-threatening emergencies. But "life-threatening situation" is defined to exclude anything arising from a pre-existing disease. So a cardiac event in a parent with known hypertension, or a diabetic emergency in a parent with diagnosed diabetes, is not a covered life-threatening situation under the base policy. It is excluded by definition, before any claims adjuster looks at it.

This is not a scandal or a loophole. It is standard, disclosed, and legal. It is simply not what families think they are buying.

What actually fixes it

Some insurers sell an optional pre-existing disease extension as an add-on rider. Where offered, it typically:

• costs meaningfully more, especially above 60,
• carries its own sub-limit far below the headline sum insured, often a few thousand dollars against a €30,000 or higher policy, and
• applies that sub-limit specifically to older insureds, with the exact figure stated in the policy schedule rather than the brochure.

A sub-limited PED rider is still worth buying for a parent with a known condition, because a partial payment against a German hospital bill is better than none. But understand what it is: a capped extension, not full coverage. German inpatient cardiac treatment can run well past a $5,000 sub-limit.

The practical rule: read the policy schedule, not the sales page. The sub-limit that applies to your parent's age is written in the schedule you receive after purchase. If the schedule does not state a PED sub-limit, assume pre-existing conditions are not covered at all.

What this means when you actually buy

A short sequence that avoids the common failures:

1. Start from the approved list, not from price comparison. Confirm the insurer is currently listed by the German mission. This is a pass/fail gate; everything else is optimisation.
2. Match the product to your parent's age, not just the company. The senior-specific product is usually a different policy with a different name.
3. Confirm all four Article 15 elements appear in the wording: medical repatriation, urgent medical attention, emergency hospitalisation, and repatriation of remains.
4. Check coverage runs from departure to return, including both travel days. A policy starting the day after arrival fails the "entire period" test.
5. Decide on the PED rider deliberately. For a parent with any diagnosed condition in the last three years, price the rider and read its sub-limit before dismissing it.
6. Prefer zero deductible. A policy with a large excess technically meets the €30,000 floor but leaves your family paying the first slice of every claim, in euros.

On cost: expect the age band to drive the premium far more than the coverage amount. Indicative Indian-market pricing for a 90-day Schengen policy runs from roughly ₹3,500–6,000 for a standard adult, with premiums for travellers over 60 commonly two to three times a younger adult's rate, and higher again above 70. Treat those as order-of- magnitude only and get a live quote, travel premiums reprice frequently, and the senior bands move most.

The 90-day cliff

Travel insurance solves a 90-day problem. It does not solve what comes after, and this is where families get badly caught.

A Schengen visitor visa allows a maximum of 90 days in any 180-day period. Travel medical insurance is designed and priced for exactly that: a temporary visitor who goes home.

If your parents are staying longer, a national long-stay visa, or an eventual family reunion route, travel insurance is no longer the right instrument, and in most cases no longer sufficient. Long-stay residence requires health insurance that meets German residence-permit standards, which is a different product with different pricing, and private German insurers apply their own health underwriting and age loading to applicants in their late sixties and seventies. Some decline outright.

Families sometimes plan a rolling sequence of 90-day visits precisely to stay inside the travel-insurance regime. That works, but note that each new visit needs its own valid policy, and each renewal is priced at your parent's current age with their current conditions. It gets harder every year, not easier.

The realistic options for long stays, and why most of them do not apply to parents, are covered in bringing your parents to Germany.

Where applications actually fail

The rejection reasons that recur, in rough order of frequency:

• Insurer not on the approved list. The single most avoidable failure, and the one families never see coming.
• Coverage gap at the edges. Policy starts on the arrival date rather than the departure date, or ends before the return flight.
• Missing repatriation cover. Medical cover alone does not satisfy Article 15.
• Coverage below €30,000 after currency conversion. A policy denominated in dollars sitting near the line can fall under it when the rate moves. Buy clear headroom above the floor.
• Policy not valid Schengen-wide, only for Germany.
• Wrong product for the age band, so the policy is technically void for that traveller even though the insurer is listed.

What we would tell a friend

If your parents are healthy and under 65, this is genuinely close to a formality: pick any listed insurer, confirm the four Article 15 elements, buy zero-deductible, done.

If your parents are over 70, or have any condition diagnosed or treated in the last three years, the cheapest compliant policy is a visa document and very little else. Price the PED rider, read the sub-limit in the schedule, and make the decision knowing what is and is not covered, rather than discovering the definition of "life-threatening situation" in a German hospital.

Sources

• Article 15, Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 (EU Visa Code), the €30,000 minimum, required coverage categories, territorial and duration requirements, multiple-entry rule, and the country-of-residence principle.
• German missions in India, travel medical insurance information page and the list of accepted Indian insurance companies with age bands (list effective date July 2022).
• Indian insurer published policy wording, definitions of "Pre-existing disease" (36-month look-back) and "Life threatening situation" (explicit pre-existing carve-out).

Quotes are reproduced from the published sources named above. This guide is general information, not insurance advice; confirm the current approved-insurer list and the specific policy schedule before buying.

Related guides on this site

• Bringing your parents to Germany: visitor visa and long-term options
• Krankenversicherung: German health insurance, explained
• Family reunion visa: bringing your spouse and children to Germany
• Privathaftpflichtversicherung: German liability insurance for Indians
• Cost of living for an Indian family in Germany